Russia may soon reveal the names of the cosmonauts assigned to the first space mission of the country’s next-generation spacecraft known as "Federation". According to the spacecraft’s manufacturer, RKK Energia, the crew could be selected as early as the first half of 2018.

Russia intends to expand its rocket fleet by developing a super heavy-lift booster that could one day become the country’s workhorse launcher for future lunar missions. Implementation of this new project was announced on Nov. 28 by the Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

Russia’s rocket and space corporation RKK Energia recently laid out its plan for a manned exploration of the Moon, which includes a flight to lunar orbit in 2030 and landing of the first Russian cosmonaut on the surface a year later.

The head of the Roscosmos State Corporation recently confirmed the first test flight of Russia’s next-generation spacecraft, Federation, will take place in 2021. The spacecraft’s maiden orbital mission will launch without a crew from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country’s Far East.